RE: Patent Listing
I'd certainly like to your PP presentation. Obviously I'm starting (almost) from ground zero here. Alison -Original Message- From: Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net) [mailto:syed.hos...@aeris.net] Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 9:38 PM To: Combs, Richard; Alison Craig; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Patent Listing I have a Powerpoint presentation on the topic of Intellectual Property (i.e., Trademarks and Patents - among other things) and can provide this to people. BUT, I want to look through it first to sanitize it a bit (to remove some company-specific material) and also check with our patent lawyers to see if I can freely send it out. I guess I am trying to gauge the level of interest here first ... :) Z -Original Message- From: Combs, Richard [mailto:richard.co...@polycom.com] Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 7:22 PM To: Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net); Alison Craig; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Patent Listing Syed Zaeem Hosain wrote: I *entirely* agree with the public use of trademark and logo attributions - the specific method, design, figure, wording, etc., is driven by the company who owns them. These are often described in *public* documents by those companies (see Oracle, Google and Microsoft web sites for examples). However, licensing a patent from a third-party and incorporating that intellectual property in your own product is quite different. Documentation should not generally require specific attribution. Indeed, that business agreement may be one that needs to be relatively confidential. So, I would suggest that it is sufficient to say ... are protected by patents: XXX, XXX, XXX that _includes_ the licensed patent and leave it at that. Most importantly, ask your *own* lawyers (internal or otherwise) for the specific policy that they may already have ... That's probably often the case. IIRC, when Sun owned Java, all we had to do is acknowledge the trademark. But then Oracle acquired Sun, and their policies are very different (in a number of ways). Since users of our software are also using the Java software we license from Oracle, our customers must be presented with and accept the Oracle license terms. Of course, that's software, so it's not really a patent issue, but a license-to-use issue -- I don't know what's being licensed in Alison's case, and the situation may be quite different. And it's Oracle -- 'nuff said. Bottom line: What you're legally obligated to do should be specified in the contract with the license owner. Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Patent Listing
Noted. So far, I have a few requests for it ... I will get back to those who have asked, once I have some feedback from our lawyers ... :) Regards, Z -Original Message- From: Alison Craig [mailto:alison.cr...@ultrasonix.com] Sent: Friday, August 24, 2012 9:50 AM To: Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net); Combs, Richard; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Patent Listing I'd certainly like to your PP presentation. Obviously I'm starting (almost) from ground zero here. Alison -Original Message- From: Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net) [mailto:syed.hos...@aeris.net] Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 9:38 PM To: Combs, Richard; Alison Craig; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Patent Listing I have a Powerpoint presentation on the topic of Intellectual Property (i.e., Trademarks and Patents - among other things) and can provide this to people. BUT, I want to look through it first to sanitize it a bit (to remove some company-specific material) and also check with our patent lawyers to see if I can freely send it out. I guess I am trying to gauge the level of interest here first ... :) Z -Original Message- From: Combs, Richard [mailto:richard.co...@polycom.com] Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 7:22 PM To: Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net); Alison Craig; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Patent Listing Syed Zaeem Hosain wrote: I *entirely* agree with the public use of trademark and logo attributions - the specific method, design, figure, wording, etc., is driven by the company who owns them. These are often described in *public* documents by those companies (see Oracle, Google and Microsoft web sites for examples). However, licensing a patent from a third-party and incorporating that intellectual property in your own product is quite different. Documentation should not generally require specific attribution. Indeed, that business agreement may be one that needs to be relatively confidential. So, I would suggest that it is sufficient to say ... are protected by patents: XXX, XXX, XXX that _includes_ the licensed patent and leave it at that. Most importantly, ask your *own* lawyers (internal or otherwise) for the specific policy that they may already have ... That's probably often the case. IIRC, when Sun owned Java, all we had to do is acknowledge the trademark. But then Oracle acquired Sun, and their policies are very different (in a number of ways). Since users of our software are also using the Java software we license from Oracle, our customers must be presented with and accept the Oracle license terms. Of course, that's software, so it's not really a patent issue, but a license-to-use issue -- I don't know what's being licensed in Alison's case, and the situation may be quite different. And it's Oracle -- 'nuff said. Bottom line: What you're legally obligated to do should be specified in the contract with the license owner. Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Patent Listing
Alison Craig wrote: I have been given a new patent to list in my documentation - but it's a patent we have legal permission to use. It does not belong to us. Per the attached, all of our patents are listed on title pages and in a Chapter 1 section called (unsurprisingly) Trademarks and Patents (in tiny documents without cover and title pages, the patents are included in the first page footer). My first inclination is to list the 3rd party patent only in manuals with the Chapter 1 Trademarks and Patents section - something like The following third party patents are used in SonixGPS(tm) software: xxx. (Note that SonixGPS(tm) will be added to the Ultrasonix trademark list before the next manual release.) Does anyone have any patent credit experience that could shed some light on how to handle this? As I haven't actually been given the name of the company from whom we licensed use of this patent, I can't include it. Am I supposed to? Who gave you this task? Do they expect you just to insert the patent number? Yes, you need to specify the name of the company from whom you licensed this. In general, a company from which you license technology will have specific requirements for what your company must do regarding the license and any associated trademarks. For instance, we use the Java Platform in our products, and Oracle requires that the Java logo and trademark acknowledgement be included in all docs in a very specific manner and that the Java license terms be appended to our end user license agreement (EULA) so that our customers are aware of and bound by Oracle's license terms. Does your product have a EULA? Do you have a legal department that can guide you? These aren't things you should just make up. Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richard.co...@polycom.com 303-223-5111 -- rgco...@gmail.com 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Patent Listing
Hi, Alison. In my position, I deal with patents quite a bit - have a few that I am on the inventor list. :) Which doesn't mean that I am an expert, but I interact with our patent attorneys a lot and I set some internal policy. The main point I would make is that the fact that a third-party has licensed a patent to your company to use is _not_ really necessary to identify. It is a _business_ and contractual relationship between your company and the licensee. Therefore, in your documentation, it may just be _sufficient_ to just add the patent numbers in the same way you identified the Ultrasonix patents in the sample wording (first sentence) in your e-mail. But, most importantly, your question is best answered by your own patent attorneys (whether in-house or a retained firm), or your official Legal Counsel. They may have specific policy requirements that will let you know what to do. Regards, Z From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Alison Craig Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 3:13 PM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: OT: Patent Listing This is off topic, but with all the tech writing knowledge out there, I figured this was a good place to start. Off-list replies would be wonderful. I have been given a new patent to list in my documentation - but it's a patent we have legal permission to use. It does not belong to us. Per the attached, all of our patents are listed on title pages and in a Chapter 1 section called (unsurprisingly) Trademarks and Patents (in tiny documents without cover and title pages, the patents are included in the first page footer). My first inclination is to list the 3rd party patent only in manuals with the Chapter 1 Trademarks and Patents section - something like The following third party patents are used in SonixGPS(tm) software: xxx. (Note that SonixGPS(tm) will be added to the Ultrasonix trademark list before the next manual release.) Does anyone have any patent credit experience that could shed some light on how to handle this? As I haven't actually been given the name of the company from whom we licensed use of this patent, I can't include it. Am I supposed to? If it matters, we are a Canadian company, but we sell all over the world. Alison Alison Craig Technical Documentation Lead ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Patent Listing
I *entirely* agree with the public use of trademark and logo attributions - the specific method, design, figure, wording, etc., is driven by the company who owns them. These are often described in *public* documents by those companies (see Oracle, Google and Microsoft web sites for examples). However, licensing a patent from a third-party and incorporating that intellectual property in your own product is quite different. Documentation should not generally require specific attribution. Indeed, that business agreement may be one that needs to be relatively confidential. So, I would suggest that it is sufficient to say ... are protected by patents: XXX, XXX, XXX that _includes_ the licensed patent and leave it at that. Most importantly, ask your *own* lawyers (internal or otherwise) for the specific policy that they may already have ... Z -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Combs, Richard Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 3:50 PM To: Alison Craig; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Patent Listing Alison Craig wrote: I have been given a new patent to list in my documentation - but it's a patent we have legal permission to use. It does not belong to us. Per the attached, all of our patents are listed on title pages and in a Chapter 1 section called (unsurprisingly) Trademarks and Patents (in tiny documents without cover and title pages, the patents are included in the first page footer). My first inclination is to list the 3rd party patent only in manuals with the Chapter 1 Trademarks and Patents section - something like The following third party patents are used in SonixGPS(tm) software: xxx. (Note that SonixGPS(tm) will be added to the Ultrasonix trademark list before the next manual release.) Does anyone have any patent credit experience that could shed some light on how to handle this? As I haven't actually been given the name of the company from whom we licensed use of this patent, I can't include it. Am I supposed to? Who gave you this task? Do they expect you just to insert the patent number? Yes, you need to specify the name of the company from whom you licensed this. In general, a company from which you license technology will have specific requirements for what your company must do regarding the license and any associated trademarks. For instance, we use the Java Platform in our products, and Oracle requires that the Java logo and trademark acknowledgement be included in all docs in a very specific manner and that the Java license terms be appended to our end user license agreement (EULA) so that our customers are aware of and bound by Oracle's license terms. Does your product have a EULA? Do you have a legal department that can guide you? These aren't things you should just make up. Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richard.co...@polycom.com 303-223-5111 -- rgco...@gmail.com 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as syed.hos...@aeris.net. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/syed.hosain%40aeris.net Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Patent Listing
Syed Zaeem Hosain wrote: I *entirely* agree with the public use of trademark and logo attributions - the specific method, design, figure, wording, etc., is driven by the company who owns them. These are often described in *public* documents by those companies (see Oracle, Google and Microsoft web sites for examples). However, licensing a patent from a third-party and incorporating that intellectual property in your own product is quite different. Documentation should not generally require specific attribution. Indeed, that business agreement may be one that needs to be relatively confidential. So, I would suggest that it is sufficient to say ... are protected by patents: XXX, XXX, XXX that _includes_ the licensed patent and leave it at that. Most importantly, ask your *own* lawyers (internal or otherwise) for the specific policy that they may already have ... That's probably often the case. IIRC, when Sun owned Java, all we had to do is acknowledge the trademark. But then Oracle acquired Sun, and their policies are very different (in a number of ways). Since users of our software are also using the Java software we license from Oracle, our customers must be presented with and accept the Oracle license terms. Of course, that's software, so it's not really a patent issue, but a license-to-use issue -- I don't know what's being licensed in Alison's case, and the situation may be quite different. And it's Oracle -- 'nuff said. Bottom line: What you're legally obligated to do should be specified in the contract with the license owner. Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Patent Listing
I have a Powerpoint presentation on the topic of Intellectual Property (i.e., Trademarks and Patents - among other things) and can provide this to people. BUT, I want to look through it first to sanitize it a bit (to remove some company-specific material) and also check with our patent lawyers to see if I can freely send it out. I guess I am trying to gauge the level of interest here first ... :) Z -Original Message- From: Combs, Richard [mailto:richard.co...@polycom.com] Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 7:22 PM To: Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net); Alison Craig; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Patent Listing Syed Zaeem Hosain wrote: I *entirely* agree with the public use of trademark and logo attributions - the specific method, design, figure, wording, etc., is driven by the company who owns them. These are often described in *public* documents by those companies (see Oracle, Google and Microsoft web sites for examples). However, licensing a patent from a third-party and incorporating that intellectual property in your own product is quite different. Documentation should not generally require specific attribution. Indeed, that business agreement may be one that needs to be relatively confidential. So, I would suggest that it is sufficient to say ... are protected by patents: XXX, XXX, XXX that _includes_ the licensed patent and leave it at that. Most importantly, ask your *own* lawyers (internal or otherwise) for the specific policy that they may already have ... That's probably often the case. IIRC, when Sun owned Java, all we had to do is acknowledge the trademark. But then Oracle acquired Sun, and their policies are very different (in a number of ways). Since users of our software are also using the Java software we license from Oracle, our customers must be presented with and accept the Oracle license terms. Of course, that's software, so it's not really a patent issue, but a license-to-use issue -- I don't know what's being licensed in Alison's case, and the situation may be quite different. And it's Oracle -- 'nuff said. Bottom line: What you're legally obligated to do should be specified in the contract with the license owner. Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
